Boxing: The Essentials
Last Updated: Monday, September 13, 2010 | 3:59 PM ET
By Jesse Campigotto and Chris Iorfida, CBC Sports
Middleweight favourite Vijender Singh is one of the potential homegrown stars of the Delhi Games. (Saurabh Das/Associated Press)
A Commonwealth Games core sport, boxing is one of the few events to appear at every edition since the inaugural 1930 Games in Hamilton, Ont.
As in the Olympics, the competition is for men only. But that could change in the future if the Commonwealth Games Federation follows the lead of the International Olympic Committee, which is adding women's bouts in 2012.
Delhi will host bouts in 10 weight classes, from light flyweight (for fighters tipping the scales between about 101 and 108 pounds) up to super heavyweight (fighters weighing more than 200 pounds).
There's an extra medal up for grabs in each weight class, as the losers of semifinal bouts are both awarded a bronze medal instead of being forced to battle for it in the ring.
England is the team to beat after winning five golds at the last Commonwealth Games and benefiting from an improved program ahead of the 2012 London Games.
England will be sending all three of its fighters who took silver at the recent European championships: flyweight Khalid Yafai, featherweight Iain Weaver and lightweight Tom Stalker. Former world bronze winner and Beijing Olympic veteran Bradley Saunders (light welterweight) is also on the squad, while it will be up to Amin Isa to extend the country's streak of Commonwealth super heavyweight boxing golds to four.
The host country is now a player in amateur boxing after eschewing the sport for decades. India finished third in boxing medals to host Australia in the last Commonwealth Games, but will likely be second this time around.
At a pre-Commonwealth tournament in Delhi in March, Suranjoy Singh and Jai Bhagawan were among six Indian gold winners, with England's boxers left grumbling about the scoring in a couple of championship bouts.
India boasts three fighters who competed in the Beijing Games, including middleweight Olympic bronze medallist Vijender Singh and Akhil Kumar, who came up one bout short of the medal stage.
Canada has entered seven boxers — one in each weight class from lightweight (132 pounds maximum weight) on up. The goal is to win four medals after a disappointing one-medal showing in 2006. Canada hauled in seven medals at the 2002 Games in Manchester.
Who to watch
Vijender Singh (India): One of the potential stars of the Delhi Games, the 24-year-old from the state of Haryana in southeast India is sure to have plenty of fans figuratively in his corner when he steps into the ring at 3,000-seat Talkatora Indoor Stadium. Singh is the favourite for middleweight gold, and not just by default: The AIBA ranks him the best amateur boxer in the world in his weight class, and he captured a silver medal at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne and a bronze at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Steve Rolls of Chatham, Ont., is Singh's Canadian competition.
Didier Bence (Canada): He's only the 85th-ranked amateur fighter in the world in his weight class, but Bence may be Canada's best hope for a medal in Delhi. The 23-year-old super heavyweight from Laval, Que., is coming off a bronze-medal showing at the 2007 Pan Am Games and silvers at both the Francophone Games and Continental Championships in 2009.
When to watch
Day 10 (Oct. 13)
- Gold-medal bouts in all weight classes
